Examining the Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Determinants of Land Urbanization in Prefecture-level Cities,China

Examining the spatiotemporal dynamics and determinants of land urbanization is critical for promoting healthy urban development and the rational use of land resources.Based on the dataset consisting of land use change data and selected factors in 2010 and2020,this study used visual analysis to reveal the spatiotemporal dynamics of land urbanization across prefecture-level cities in China.Meanwhile,the driving forces underlying land urbanization were examined by using geographical detector technique.Following are the findings:1)we find that there exist notable spatial variances in land urbanization across prefecture-level cities.Currently,the differentiation in land urbanization between the northern and southern cities is more pronounced than that between the coastal and inland cities,or between the eastern and western cities.Prefecture-level cities located in central and western China have experienced the most rapid growth in land urbanization.Conversely,the growth rate in northeastern China is the lowest,while the velocity in eastern China remains relatively stable.By using spatial autocorrelation analysis,this study reveals that the land urbanization level in prefecture-level cities has significant spatial agglomeration.2)We further find that land urbanization in China is influenced by factors related to urban land supply and demand,and urban population growth,economic growth,land financial and political incentive have greater impact on land urbanization than other factors.3)We also find that the impacts of determinants on China’s land urbanization vary over time,the explanatory power of economic development increased,while the explanatory power of state forces declined.We argue that integrating the supply and demand factors of land urbanization can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the driving mechanisms underlying land urbanization in China and other transitional countries,and help decision-makers in these countries formulate more detailed and specific land urbanization policies.

Spatio-temporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Forces of Winter Urban Heat Island:A Case Study of Rapid Urbanization Area of Fuzhou City,China

Under the influence of anthropogenic and climate change,the problems caused by urban heat island(UHI)has become increasingly prominent.In order to promote urban sustainable development and improve the quality of human settlements,it is significant for exploring the evolution characteristics of urban thermal environment and analyzing its driving forces.Taking the Landsat series images as the basic data sources,the winter land surface temperature(LST)of the rapid urbanization area of Fuzhou City in China was quantitatively retrieved from 2001 to 2021.Combing comprehensively the standard deviation ellipse model,profile analysis and GeoDetector model,the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the winter urban thermal environment were systematically analyzed.The results showed that the winter LST presented an increasing trend in the study area during 2001–2021,and the winter LST of the central urban regions was significantly higher than the suburbs.There was a strong UHI effect from 2001 to 2021with an expansion trend from the central urban regions to the suburbs and coastal areas in space scale.The LST of green lands and wetlands are significantly lower than croplands,artificial surface and unvegetated lands.Vegetation and water bodies had a significant mitigation effect on UHI,especially in the micro-scale.The winter UHI had been jointly driven by the underlying surface and socio-economic factors in a nonlinear or two-factor interactive enhancement mode,and socio-economic factors had played a leading role.This research could provide data support and decision-making references for rationally planning urban layout and promoting sustainable urban development.

Understanding Urban Vitality from the Economic and Human Activities Perspective:A Case Study of Chongqing,China

The literature on urban vitality tends to focus on the built environment.This paper argues that some important processes in shaping vitality may be overlooked without examining the intensity and diversity of economic and human activities.Using newly developed spatial big data and adopting the methods of multi-indicator measurement and spatial analysis methods,we analyzed the pattern of urban vitality in Chongqing,a provincial city in western China and,on this basis,evaluated the creation and maintenance of urban vitality from the economic and human activities perspective.Our findings indicate that the impacts of economic and human activities are positive and significant.Among the three intensity and diversity indicators,economic intensity and population density show an effect on urban vitality stronger than that of economic diversity.However,economic diversity has the strongest superposition or interactive effect,and is thus an important foundation dynamic.The positive effect of population density on urban vitality is largely a result of Chongqing’s jobs-housing balance.The case of Chongqing highlights the importance of topographic features,historical inheritance,large-scale migration,and cultural activities in shaping the distinctive vitality pattern of a city.This study contends that the creation and maintenance of urban vitality can not be fully explained without incorporating the impacts of economic and human activities.It contributes to a comprehensive measurement of urban vitality and enriches its connotations.

How Does Urban Shrinkage Affect Land Use Efficiency?A Case Study of Shrinking Cities in Northeast China

The effect of urban shrinkage has gradually become a new topic.Theoretically,urban shrinkage may exert great influence on land use efficiency(LUE)through various urban subsystems,but there is currently limited research examining these pathways.Using the Super-SBM-Undesirable model and the Structural Equation Model(SEM),this study calculates the LUE of shrinking cities in Northeast China and simulates the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE.To quantify the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,three mediation variables,namely the economy,public services,and innovation,are used as latent variables to apply SEM.The results show that urban shrinkage will affect LUE through a direct path and indirect paths.In the direct path,urban shrinkage leads to an improvement in LUE.In the indirect paths,the economy and innovation will transmit the negative effect of urban shrinkage on LUE,while public services will reverse this effect.An important contribution of this study is that it quantifies the paths of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,thereby expanding the understanding of urban shrinkage effect and laying a foundation for the sustainable development of shrinking cities.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Urban Heat Islands and Optimization of Spatial Network Construction in the Central Urban Area of Fuzhou City, China

Although accelerated urbanization has led to economic prosperity,it has also resulted in urban heat island effects.Therefore,identifying methods of using limited urban spaces to alleviate heat islands has become an urgent issue.In this study,we assessed the spatiotemporal evolution of urban heat islands within the central urban area of Fuzhou City,China from 2010 to 2019.This assessment was based on a morphological spatial pattern analysis(MSPA)model and an urban thermal environment spatial network constructed us-ing the minimum cumulative resistance(MCR)model.Optimization measures for the spatial network were proposed to provide a theor-etical basis for alleviating urban heat islands.The results show that the heat island area within the study area gradually increased while that of urban cold island area gradually decreased.The core area was the largest of the urban heat island patch landscape elements with a significant impact on other landscape elements,and represented an important factor underlying urban heat island network stability.The thermal environment network revealed a total of 197 thermal environment corridors and 93 heat island sources.These locations were then optimized according to the current land use,which maximized the potential of 1599.83 ha.Optimization based on current land use led to an increase in climate resilience,with effective measures showing reduction in thermal environment spatial network structure and function,contributing to the mitigation of urban heat island.These findings support the use of current land use patterns during urban heat island mitigation measure planning,thus providing an important reference basis for alleviating urban heat island effects.

Temporal Variability of Tropospheric NO_(2) over Cities in the United States,Western Europe and China from 2005 to 2022

Anthropogenic Nitrogen oxides(NO_(x)=NO_(2)+NO)emissions are highly concentrated in urban area,and the weekly cycles,seasonal patterns and long-term trends of tropospheric NO_(2) columns over cities differ from region to region due to different emission sectoral compositions and human activities.In this study,we used satellite observed tropospheric NO_(2) column data to compare the longand short-term NO_(2) column density time series over cities in the United Sates(the U.S.),western Europe and China.The results showed that in all the targeted cities,the outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease in 2019(COVID-19)moved the December peak of the city-level NO_(2)columns forward to November and October or even earlier in 2020 and 2021.On weekly level,cities in the U.S.show the lowest NO_(2) columns ratio on weekend/work day,then come the western European cities,and a weak weekly pattern is seen in Chinese cities.For all the cites,we find a higher weekend/work day NO_(2) ratio in cold seasons than in warm seasons,indicating a higher contribution from NOx emission sectors of residential,industry and power plants in the warm seasons.In the long-term,NO_(2) columns over the U.S.and western European cities declined by a fraction twice that of the regional mean level from 2004 to 2021.In China,NO_(2) columns started to decrease since 2012,at a similar rate between the city and regional level.This work confirms the importance to quantify and control NOx emissions from cities.

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Typical Ecosystem Services and Their Spatial Responses to Driving Factors in Ecologically Fragile Areas in Upper Yellow River,China

The identification of dominant driving factors for different ecosystem services(ESs)is crucial for ecological conservation and sustainable development.However,the spatial heterogeneity of the dominant driving factors affecting various ESs has not been adequately elucidated,particularly in ecologically fragile regions.This study employed the integrated valuation of ESs and trade-offs(InVEST)model to evaluate four ESs,namely,water yield(WY),soil conservation(SC),habitat quality(HQ),and carbon storage(CS),and then to identify the dominant driving factors of spatiotemporal differentiation of ES and further to characterize the spatial heterogeneity characteristics of the dominant driving factors in the eco-fragile areas of the upper Yellow River,China from 2000 to 2020.The results demonstrated that WY exhibited northeast-high and northwest-low patterns in the upper Yellow River region,while high values of SC and CS were distributed in central forested areas and a high value of HQ was distributed in vast grassland areas.The CS,WY,and SC exhibited decreasing trends over time.The most critical factors affecting WY,SC,HQ,and CS were the actual evapotranspiration,precipitation,slope,and normalized difference vegetation index,respectively.In addition,the effects of different factors on various ESs exhibited spatial heterogeneity.These results could provide spatial decision support for eco-protection and rehabilitation in ecologically fragile areas.

The comprehensive evaluation of China＇s urbanization and effects on resources and environment

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for the urbanization level in China in terms of four aspects of urbanization connotation： population, economy, society, and land. A comprehensive measurement is carried out for the Chinese urbanization between 1981 and 2006 based on the Entropy method. The results show that the comprehensive level of urbanization in China has a continuous increase with the major features of economic growth and a rapid evolution of the geographical landscape, followed by population urbanization and then social urbanization of health care standard; the distinguished evolutional characteristics can also be found in each of the subsystems. The integrated evolution of urbanization has a profound effect on the resources, energy and the environment, making the land resources and energy security situation under severe pressure. The environment pressure is also increased further.

Comparison of basic features and origins of oolitic shoal reservoirs between carbonate platform interior and platform margin locations in the Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation of the Sichuan Basin,southwest China

The oolitic shoal reservoirs of the Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation carbonates in the Sichuan Basin of southwest China are an important target for gas exploration in the basin.Their occurrence,like other cases worldwide,can be divided into two locations in general,i.e.,platform interior and platform margin locations.Their differences of reservoir features and origins,however,have not been investigated comprehensively due to different exploration degrees.This issue is addressed in this paper,to provide basic data and information for the basin＇s hydrocarbon exploration and for the study of carbonate platform sedimentology and reservoir geology worldwide.We compared the features of these two types of reservoirs in detail,including the depositional and diagenetic features,pore types and petrophysical features.Based on the comparison,the origin of the reservoirs was further discussed.It is shown that the reservoirs in platform interior and platform margin locations differ significantly.The interior carbonates were deposited in moderate to high energy settings and the dominant lithologic type was limestone,which was weakly compacted and intensely cemented and has undergone meteoric dissolution.Pore types include intragranular dissolution and moldic pores,with low porosities（6%） and low permeabilities（0.1 mD）.By contrast,the platform margin carbonates were deposited in relatively high energy settings and mainly consisted of dolostones with some limestones.The rocks were strongly compacted but incompletely cemented.As a result,some primary intergranular pores were preserved.Both meteoric solution and burial solution have taken place.There are various types of pore spaces including intergranular and intercrystalline solution pores and residual intergranular pores.This type of reservoir generally has better petrophysical properties（9% porosity and 0.1 mD permeability） and pore-throat structures than the interior reservoirs.These differences were influenced by both primary depositional features and secondary diagenesis.For the interior carbonate reservoirs,early meteoric dissolution,weak compaction and strong cementation are important controlling factors.By contrast,the factors controlling the formation of the margin carbonate reservoirs mainly include dolomitization,preservation of primary pores and burial dissolution.

Appraisal of typical rural development models during rapid urbanization in the eastern coastal region of China

The sustainability of regional rural development depends on the integrated status and the coordination between rural resources-environment conditions and rural socioeco- nomic development. In this paper a diagnostic indicator system is proposed to appraise four representative rural development models such as Mentougou model, Taicang model, Yueqing model and Qionghai model in the eastern coastal region of China from the integrated perspective of population, resources, environment, and development. In conclusion, the formation and evolution of these diverse rural deveJopment models are the direct response to the very different characteristics in the environment, market demand, and regional culture. These models are common in that their sustainability depends on the scientific guidance of the regional development functional positioning, strong intra-regional interactions, and self-adaptability to the external conditions.

How Unique is ′China Model′: A Review of Theoretical Perspectives on China′s Urbanization in Anglophone Literature

As a major aspect of the ′China Model′, urbanization in China is being heatedly discussed in the Anglophone literature in the last two decades. By considering China′s urbanization as a ′testing ground′ of ′western′ theories, these studies are important for the understanding of China′s ongoing urban restructuring and exchanging knowledge with ′western′ insights. Based on a survey of existing studies, this paper identifies various endogenous and exogenous concepts and explanations of China′s urbanization. It is suggested that China′s urbanization is mainly driven by a combination of political decentralization and neoliberalization with various forms of social stratification and mobility. However, it is argued that the distinctness of the ′China Model′, which is usually used to support the legitimacy of studies of China′s urbanization, has led to many controversial arguments and diminished the due contributions of Chinese scholars in the knowledge production of China′s urbanization. To consolidate the legitimacy of studies on China′s urbanization and enhance the roles of Chinese scholars, we suggest future studies to pay more attentions to the fundamental theories with looser constraints and ′true questions′ on China′s urbanization.

What is the relationship between ecosystem services and urbanization? A case study of the mountainous areas in Southwest China

China is undergoing a rapid urbanization process,and urbanization will have a direct impact on regional ecosystems and affect regional ecosystem services.Considering the mountainous counties in Southwestern China as the research object,this study reveals the spatial clustering characteristics of four typical ecosystem services(food production,soil conservation,water yield and carbon sequestration)as well as the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in different urbanized areas.At the same time,piecewise linear regression is used to determine the threshold of the influence of urbanization on ecosystem services.The results indicate that:1)There are spatial autocorrelations among the four typical ecosystem services;with strong clustering characteristics,the positive correlation types are"clustered"locally;and with significant spatial heterogeneity,the negative correlation types are scattered and mainly appear in the highly urbanized area.2)There are also remarkable differences in the relationship among various ecosystem services in different urbanized areas,and in particular,there are marked trade-offs between food production and carbon sequestration in the moderately urbanized area and the highly urbanized area.However,there are synergies between them in the lowly urbanized area.3)With an increase in the compounded night light index(CNLI),water yield,carbon sequestration,food production and overall ecosystem services values present an increasing-decreasing trend,the soil conservation function value shows a decreasing-increasing trend.The response of water yield,carbon sequestration,food production,and overall ecosystem services to the compounded night light index(CNLI)has a threshold of 1.2642,1.4833,1.3388,1.5146 and 1.2237,respectively.Based on the detected relationships between urbanization and ecosystem services,this study provides a theoretical reference for the selection of urbanization development models in key ecological functional areas.

THE PROCESS AND STRATEGY OF URBANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHWEST CHINA

It is pointed out that the proportion of urban population is high but synthetical urbanization level is low in northwest China.The urban spacial distribution is influenced by usage of water resource,exploitation of mineral resource and constrained by transportation lines. The urban distribution is equipped with beaded characteristic.It reveals that the main obstruction for urbanization are fragile economic basement, weak transportation facilities,low synthetical transportation capacity.It provides strategies of developing modern transportation,strengthening resource exploitation concentratively developing leading industries, establishing self-growh mechanism to improve urbanization level as a whole.

The Urbanization Pattern of China in the 21st Century

The 21st century is referred to as a"century for cities" or "era for cities" and China hasalso speeded up its process of urbanization. It is veryimportant to choose a scientific urbanization patternto exert the function of cities and realize our dreamfor China to become a powerful modernized country.It’s concluded from history since 1800 that the patternof the world urbanization has transformed from"extensive" to "intensive". However, it is still anextensive pattern in China, and there are manyproblems behind the splendid achievements, reflectedon the urbanization process of our country since1949. Today, sustainable development and theknowledge economy are the themes of the cities; itis inevitable to change our urbanization pattern.Based on the dialectic relationship of quality andquantity, the article points out that urbanizationshould not only focus on quantity but also on qualityin China. High quality and multiform urbanizationpattern is an inevitable choice of China, and thedevelopment of the region can also be exalted by theradiation of the cities. But what’s the real meaningof the new pattern? What’s its difference from thewestern countries’? The article discusses its contentaccording to the reality of China.

The influence of urbanization on karst rivers based on nutrient concentration and nitrate dual isotopes： an example from southwestern China

China is experiencing rapid urbanization that has changed the water quality of rivers, especially nutrient loads. In this study, a typical urban river located in a karst area, Chengguan River, was chosen to explore the influence of urbanization on river ecosystems based on nutrient concentration and nitrate isotopes. The results show monthly variability of water chemistry and nutrient concentration. Nutrient concentration in two tributaries and the mainstem showed significant spatial variability, with heavy N and P pollution in one tributary near a suburban area,indicating a response to different levels of urbanization.Measurements of nitrate dual isotopes suggest thatvolatilization, assimilation, nitrification, and denitrification all occur in the polluted river. Water chemistry and nitrate isotopes show that major nitrogen sources included domestic waste and agricultural input, such as chemical fertilizer and manure. The results suggest that urbanization increases nutrient concentrations and accelerates the riverine nitrogen dynamic, and point to the need to manage point sources of sewage effluents to improve the water quality of urban rivers in southwestern China.

Building Height Trends and Their Influencing Factors under China’s Rapid Urbanization:A Case Study of Guangzhou,1960–2017

Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of three-dimensional urban forms,especially building height,can have important implications for improving urban air quality and mitigating the urban heat island effect by optimizing urban planning and management policies.This study investigated building height evolution and its influencing factors over approximately half a century(1960–2017)in Guangzhou,China.The results indicated that the logarithmic declines in height,quantity,and area of urban buildings followed Zapf’s law,which restricts the three-dimensional shape of the urban form.The urban building height decreased from the center to the periphery of the city and decreased with decreasing altitude and increasing distance from main roads.These characteristics constituted the three main spatial differentiation rules of building height in the central district of Guangzhou,and all exhibited a logarithmic decrease,which gradually strengthened over time.The development of a double-layered height structure of low-rise and high-rise buildings between 1990 and 2017 was a notable manifestation of the increase in vertical urban height over time.The three factors of city center,altitude,and accessibility,which represent centrality,low relief,proximity to water,and proximity to road networks,highlighted the roles of traffic accessibility and commercial attraction in building height evolution.The importance of location macroscopically depends on the combined effect of the geographical pattern,urban planning,and market forces of cities located on a plain near hill or by a river.The principle of profit orientation restricted spatiotemporal building height patterns.

Spatiotemporal Differences and Classification Regulation of Urbanization Impact on Agricultural Development in Shrinking Areas:A Case Study of 15 Shrinking Cities in Three Provinces of Northeast China

Studying the impact of urbanization on agricultural development in shrinking areas is important for maintaining food security and promoted agricultural development in China.Based on the measurement results of the shrinking cities in the three provinces of Northeast China,this paper selects 15 shrinking cities as the research object,and constructs a multi-dimensional index system to explore the impact of the urbanization level of the shrinking areas on the agricultural development in the region since 2007–2019,analyzes the influencing factors and their differences by using the geographically-weighted regression model and Geodetector,and proposes a targeted regulation strategy.The results show that:1)overall,there is a negative correlation between the urbanization level and the agricultural development level in the contracted areas of the three northeastern provinces.The urbanization level in these areas has a certain negative impact on the overall level of agricultural development;2)regarding the time dimension,the impact of urbanization level on the agricultural development level in the contracted areas of the three northeastern provinces gradually increases over time;3)regarding the spatial pattern,the overall impact of shrinking urbanization levels in the three provinces of Northeast China on the agricultural development shows a significant distribution pattern of high in the east and low in the west;4)the total population and natural population growth rate at the end of the year were the main factors influencing a certain level of urbanization on agricultural development in the shrinking cities while population density and the urban fixed asset investment rate were the secondary factors;and 5)the main reasons why the level of agricultural development in different cities was affected by the level of urbanization were different.However,they can be categorized into areas of population loss and spatial construction,which can be further divided into area of population loss in the northeast,areas of negative population growth in the west,and areas of urban spatial change in the south.According to the causes of the impact,this paper adopted targeted regulation strategies and formulated relevant policies and solutions that cater to local conditions.

The Influence of the Two-child Policy on Urbanization in China

Family planning has been China's basic national policy since 1980, but it changed from a onechild policy to a two-child policy at the end of 2015 as which will further stimulate the rapid growth of China's population and have a profound impact on the population structure and land use in China. Based on the forecast of total population change in national and provincial dimensions after the two -child policy, the paper forecasted the spatial pattern of China's population and provincial differentiation over the next 15 years, and discussed the far-reaching impact on the future urban and rural land use and planning. Conclusions as follows: the two-child policy will achieve rapid population growth in the next 5 years, then there will be a stable growth phase;the peak of China's population increase will occur in 2030 with a total population of about 1.55 billion people, which will continue the regional differentiation of urbanization, and urbanization level in southeastern region will remain generally higher than that of the northwest. In addition, population growth brings new demands in urban and rural construction land, therefore, more intensive use of land will be the inevitable choice for the future development for China.

A study on the evolution of land use for modern urbanization in China:1952-2005

Modern cities and towns play as the central places of wealth accumulation for human-being, not only in the ways of settlement and material consumption as they were traditionally in ancient time, but also in the ways of social production and environmental pollution as they are mostly today. With such a transition, the meaning of land use for urbanization has broadened. According to the rule of human ecosystem, land use for modern urbanization can be divided into three types: namely, the direct, the indirect and the induced. However, its structure follows its own way of the direct < the indirect < the induced, rather different from what it normally happens in the natural ecosystem. This paper takes China as an example, calculates the evolution of the land used by cities and towns during 1952-2005 according to statistics, and then analyzes the evolvement of the structure. At last, it puts forward several countermeasures to ensure land resource requirement for urbanization in future.

Research on the Balanced Development of China's Urbanization and Industrialization in Eastern,Central,Western and Northeastern Regions

According to the relationship between urbanization development and industrialization development since the opening up and reform of China,the quantitative analysis of I/U and N/U is conducted.The results show that the overall level of China's urbanization lags behind that of the industrialization,and this phenomenon of lag tends to dwindle.In 2003,the relationship between China's urbanization and industrialization was most balanced,but after 2003,the phenomenon of urbanization lagging behind industrialization tends to distend gradually again;being that the development of urbanization is influenced by natural basis and policy,different regions have different cases.In the eastern and central region,the urbanization lags behind industrialization;in the northeastern region,the urbanization preponderate over industrialization;in the western region,the level of urbanization is not high,but it develops along with the industrialization in tandem.The regional difference of urbanization and industrialization requires that different should implement different policies.The eastern region still has great developmental space,and it should implement the strategy of urbanization as soon as possible;on the basis of expanding the current urban scale and improving quality,the central region should quicken the development of central cities;the western region should choose the path of concentrated-type urbanization;the three northeastern provinces should give priority to improving the quality of local industrialization vigorously and promoting the rapid upgrade of industrial structure,so as to propel the balanced development of urbanization and industrialization.